


What You Want

by Starry_Daze



Category: Escape Room (2019)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 19:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17883959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starry_Daze/pseuds/Starry_Daze
Summary: Zoey and Ben reunite after months of no-contact. Some things have changed, some things haven't. Both have things needed to be said.





	What You Want

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand we're back, baby! Here I am bringing you another Escape Room (2019) fic! Of course it's more Zoey x Ben because I guess SOMEBODY has to do it am I right? Thanks so much for the kudos and comments on my last fic, there's not much of a fandom to give to but to those who will read this and read my last fic, this is for you! The title is inspired by the song 'What You Know' by Two Door Cinema Club (one of my FAVOURITE songs EVER y'all should check it out). For some reason I can't seem to write a fic about these two without any sort of angst but oh well! I am honestly seriously considering writing more for this pair so I would love any sort of feedback or suggestions on what to write next (maybe some smut next time? idk it's been forever since I actually wrote any).
> 
> Oh, and if any of y'all are confused I know in the movie they meet up after 6 months but I refuse to believe that that was the FIRST time they saw each other since the whole incident so I may have altered the timeline just a teeny weeny bit lol.

It would be months until Ben and Zoey were completely free. From the hospital, from the police, from _Minos_ . Zoey was back to university, back to her lectures, back to _normal_ . If she was struggling to settle back into normal life, then she couldn’t even imagine how much trouble Ben was having. She’d just have to see at their arranged meeting. The cafe _meeting_ (Zoey’s roommate had called it a date but it absolutely wasn’t) had surprisingly, been Ben’s idea. To say that she had been happy to hear from him would be an understatement. In fact, Zoey was ecstatic.

In a platonic way, obviously.

During Ben’s recovery in hospital and the police’s investigation into the whole matter, the two of them had learned a lot more about each other. Ben was 21 years old, a stock boy (maybe not anymore, at least Zoey hoped so) and not as much as an asshole as first impressions made him out to be. In all honesty, she thought he was rather _sweet_. Maybe a bit awkward or blunt at times but obviously trying his best. Zoey found that she enjoyed talking to him. However, after he got out of hospital though, they were both dragged back to reality and eventually dropped out of contact. It had been four months since they last even saw each other.

Zoey had put on a nice outfit, hoping to make this a special occasion. And why shouldn’t it be? The two had survived the Minos escape room, surely there was cause for celebration there. As she weaved through the bustling city streets to find herself in front of a charming little family-owned cafe, Zoey checked her phone once more, ensuring she had the correct address for the place where Ben had asked to meet. Her eyes flitted over to the time, it was 11:45am, 15 minutes early, as she preferred. As she walked into the cafe, her eyes scanned the customers already there; several mothers with strollers, one or two businessmen chatting away on their bluetooths, a few students obviously making use of the free wi-fi, but no Ben.

Zoey tried to stifle her disappointment and instead sat down at one of the tables next to the wide window of the cafe, pouring over the menu in an attempt to not fidget. She wasn’t generally a coffee drinker, she just drank it out of necessity, and when she did, she preferred it with just plain milk. Zoey decided tea might help calm her nerves a little.

Just as the waitress put the cup of tea down in front of her, the bell of the entrance rang to signal a new customer. Zoey looked up to see Ben’s familiar face smiling at her and she let out a breath of slight surprise.

Ben looked _good_.

Gone was the ratty hoodie and oil slick hair. Instead in their place, Ben wore a plain linen button-up tucked into a pair of nicely-fitted jeans and his (still rather long but slightly trimmed) curls combed and tucked behind his ears.

It was like seeing a completely different person.

Zoey couldn’t really believe it.

“Ben?”

His smile grew even wider. “Yep. The one and only,”

Without even thinking about it, Zoey shot up, knocking the table with her knee and causing some tea to spill out of the cup. If she noticed it however, it didn’t show, as in a moment of confidence and happiness that she swore only ever happened in movies, Zoey rushed over and pulled him into a tight hug.

Ben released a surprised “Oof!” before falling into a fit of laughter. He then proceeded to  wrap his arms around Zoey too, reciprocating the hug. “It’s good to see you too, Zoey.”

Finally realising exactly what it was she was doing, Zoey yelped and stepped back from the hug, her eyes turning towards the ground. “Uh, yeah. Nice to see you..” Well, that surge of energy didn’t last very long.

Sensing the awkward tension, Ben gestured back to the table. “No need to stand up for little old me, take a seat and I’ll go ahead and order what I want.”

Zoey nodded stiffly, moving to sit back down and hastily mop up the spilled tea with some napkins. With her eyes quickly flitting back and forth from her teacup to the front counter, Zoey watched as Ben gave his order to the waitress. Even the way he carried himself was vastly different from a few months ago. He spoke with confident ease, relaxed and friendly in his pleasant chatter. He said something that caused the waitress to guffaw loudly and Zoey bit her lip, a nervous tic of hers that she hadn’t quite gotten rid of. She’d expected him to have changed a bit, but this was so much more than she could have ever predicted.

Suddenly, both Ben and the waitress turned to look over at Zoey and her head jerked downwards towards her table. Her eyes practically glared holes into the poor teacup.

Oh god, she must’ve made a fool of herself. They must’ve been talking about her, did Ben know that waitress? Were they...dating? Zoey couldn’t even bear the thought. Not that she was jealous, of course not! She was just...very embarrassed to have done that to a guy who was taken. Especially if that guy was Ben, the only other person who could possibly understand her new traumas and experiences.

Zoey had spent her time after the ‘Incident’ trying to do the thing that happened to get her into the incident in the first place. She continued to put herself out of her comfort zone, move past her shyness, speak her mind. For a while it had worked, it had been fine. She had been able to use it to get over her experience, get over her trauma. Get over Ben.

But, now?

Having to look at the face of the only other survivor of the incident, _and_ the man that she had been in love with for the past 3 months, was at the very least jarring and at the very worst, devastating. How did she ever think she was ready for this?

Zoey tried to stifle a shaky breath as Ben sat down in the seat across from her.

“Hey...you okay?” Ben quirked his head sideways, trying to catch her eye.

Zoey peeked up at him. “Yeah! Yeah…I’m just...it’s good to see you. That’s all.”

Ben attempted to hide a frown. “Hey, Zoey. I’m sorry if this was a bit of a surprise, you can say if you’re...uncomfortable. This was probably really out of the blue.”

“No!” Zoey squawked, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s fine, this is fine. I’m happy to see you, really. Do you...know that girl?”

Ben turned his head to look at the waitress and then back to Zoey. “Emily over there? Yeah she’s a friend, I’m a bit of a regular here so we talk a lot.”

Zoey breathed out a sigh of relief, hating herself for it. “Oh, that’s good. Um, that you’re friends...not saying that you don’t have any, I mean friends...I’m sure you do, now.”

Ben laughed softly. “No, I get it. I was a massive loser before...before, uh, you know. But, enough about me, how’ve you been?”

It felt almost strange, to talk together, sit together like this. The rhythm they’d built a few months ago was coming back into place and if was as if there had never been that complete radio silence between them in the first place. Zoey told him about her life, laughed at his jokes and made a few of her own. From an outsider’s perspective, they could’ve been two ordinary young people having coffee together, maybe on a date. Not that it was of course.

Time flew by and before they knew it the two of them were getting up and heading towards Ben’s new apartment, neither quite wanting the day to end. The walk was short but in the time they had taken in the cafe, the sun had disappeared behind dark grey clouds that threatened to shower the city with rain.

Zoey was all too aware of how close she was to Ben, finding her heart speeding up as their shoulders and hands brushed every once in a while. It was getting difficult to really listen to whatever Ben was even saying. Her attention shifted as a single drop of rain landed right on her nose, followed by more and more until it was bucketing down.

“Ah! We’re not too far now, come on!” Ben unthinkingly grabbed her and gently pulled her along the street, his pace changing from a leisurely stroll into a brisk walk. All around them, other people began running for cover or pulling out umbrellas. Zoey could only focus on the warmth of the hand holding hers, contrasting greatly with the cold slowly seeping through her clothes and skin.

“Here we are!” Ben announced cheerfully, sweeping an arm out to gesture towards a older looking brick building. “I’m on the top floor so it’s a bit of a mountain climb, but hey anything to get out of the rain, huh?”

Zoey cracked a smile at that, choosing to simply follow Ben’s lead rather than reply, mostly in fear of her voice failing her or something stupid like that. Once they reached Ben’s apartment however, Zoey found herself relaxing slightly. The place was in what some people might call a “controlled mess” with several items of clothing (including but not limited to pants, socks and various graphic T-Shirts) strewn across the grandma-inspired floral couch, matching armchair and coffee table. Zoey also noticed several stacks of loose paper and a few old pizza boxes.

So maybe he hadn’t changed so drastically after all.

“Oh shit! Sorry about the mess...I wasn’t expecting company. Here, you sit tight and I’ll just, uh, clean all this up.” With the both of them still sopping wet, Ben lead Zoey towards the armchair, clearing away any mess that might’ve have been occupying it. Zoey watched in amused silence as he rushed around the living room, picking up the various items laying about. It didn’t take too long before he was satisfied with the result, bringing his attention back to Zoey.

At that point Zoey was well embedded into his armchair, having pulled the sleeves of her saturated sweater down in a (useless) attempt at warming herself up. Drops of water dripped down her back and face, essentially creating a puddle around her.

“Oh God, you’re shivering. I’ll go see if I have anything you can borrow.” Before Zoey could reply, Ben had disappeared into what she assumed was his bedroom.

With Ben gone for the moment, Zoey could take the time to take a better look at the apartment. It was quite nice (save for the mess of course but it was Ben after all) with tall windows, vintage furniture that probably came with the place, various personal items such as framed photos and books, and an overall very cozy, homey vibe. It was great to see Ben finally gaining the independence he had been looking for not so long ago. He had his own place, a stable new job, and was seeing a therapist to deal with his problems. Something that perhaps Zoey should consider copying. It was barely the self-reflection she truly needed but throughout the day she had come to the realisation that simply trying to raise her confidence was not going to solve her problems. So the question was: what would? Ben seemed content with his current life, he was relaxed, happy. Happy to talk about anything _but_ Minos. Maybe Zoey should respect that, put more effort into changing her own life into something she was happy with and leave him be. Because truth be told; despite her attempts at speaking up in class, interacting more with her roommate and other students, and taking more risks, her life had barely changed. Sure, she was having fun with her studies - for nothing could change her thirst for knowledge - but still, college could only somewhat distract her from her true emotions. At the end of the day, she truly had no idea where she was going next and how she could completely and utterly move on. At least, not in the way Ben had seemed to.

To think, she had begun the day thinking that _she_ was the one better off, that _she_ had settled back into normal life, that _she_ was content with fucking Minos getting off scot-free.

Ah, well maybe that was where she could find a solution.

“Zoey?”

Oh right, Ben was actually here, in person, physically. Not just in her dreams and fantasies.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s alright.” Ben had rushed over to her, carrying a bundle of clothes and a single towel. Zoey couldn’t tell if the water running down her face was from tears or the rain, probably both. She bit into her lip painfully and hunched into herself as Ben knelt down in front of her, wrapping her up in the warm, fluffy towel. “We all have our off days, and hey, I’m here to talk to you okay? I want to help you...the way you helped me.”

Zoey gasped as a hand cupped her chin, gently tilting her face up. Her eyes came into focus to see Ben softly smiling, eyes shining with a few unshed tears of his own. 

“Zoey.” Ben began slowly, “You’re one of the strongest, smartest, kindest, most driven people I know. But Jesus, you’re not alone, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t contact you until now, I thought I was...I don’t know, protecting you. I thought that you had moved on already, that this entire fucking mess was behind you and I shouldn’t mess with that. But - “

There was a pregnant pause as Ben pulled her into a fierce, desperate hug.

“ - I couldn’t let you go. I know I sound so selfish but, God, I needed to see you again. To talk to you again. Selfish or not, I love you, Zoey Davis. I am in complete and absolute love with you. I understand if you hate me, if you never want to see me again, just say the word and I’m out of your life forever.”

“Shut up.” Zoey croaked, voice barely audible.

Ben pulled back, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

Zoey wiped her face with the towel, swallowing thickly before looking Ben directly in the eyes. “I said: Shut up Ben Miller, and kiss me.”

There was barely a moment’s pause before the two engaged in what had to be the most electrifying, heart-wrenching and hungry kiss in Zoey’s life. When they finally separated they were both panting and red-faced, like a pair of teenagers caught behind the bleachers. Things would be so much easier if they were. Instead, they sat in silence, still dripping from the rain and emotionally drained. For them, easy wasn’t really an option anymore, but maybe together they could make it one.

“You’re an idiot.” Zoey quietly declared, smiling widely at him. “Because I could _never_ hate you. Or think you selfish. Ben Miller I love you too and nothing will change that.”

With Minos still out there, Zoey knew deep in her heart that she could never truly be at peace. But with Ben at her side, and a renewed fire in her heart, she could get started on it.


End file.
